The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason Read Free Book Online Page B

you are no more hard of hearing than I am. It must be difficult, now that you, the elusive Marquess of Rockley, have announced you are seeking a bride. All of the matchmaking mamas have lined up, conniving and scheming to bring you into their fold.”
    They stepped onto the dance floor in the ballroom of the Duke and Duchess of Dunstead’s home. With a fluid, practiced motion, Rockley slipped his arm around and behind her, pivoting Victoria to face him. “You cannot imagine being in such a predicament?” He grasped her fingers, and they stepped into the time of the music.
    â€œNo, I truly cannot.” She looked up and found his eyes fastened quizzically on her.
    â€œBut are you not in the very same position? Being put on display for all of the young…and not so young bucks,” he added with a rueful smile, “looking to wed and father an heir? Surely you must feel the same pressures our society imposes on all of us who are gentrified and also unwed.”
    The dull ache of the ring through her navel was a reminder of the biggest pressure of all. She’d executed two vampires since receiving her vis bulla— one at the Roweford ball (causing her to miss a second dance with Rockley, to her dismay) and one during an intermission at the Drury Lane Theatre. Both stakings had been frightening and exhilarating at the same time. The most difficult aspect, however, had been creating a reason to slip away and do her duty. Fortunately, Aunt Eustacia had been in attendance at both events and had been able to help her make her escape.
    Victoria returned the marquess’s smile. “I may feel the pressure, but I have no intention of succumbing to it.”
    He looked startled. “You do not wish to wed? Does your mother know this?”
    â€œIt isn’t that I do not want to marry; that I definitely intend to do,” she explained truthfully as he twirled her around the floor. “It’s that I have no intention of being rushed into making a decision that will affect me for the rest of my life.” Especially since she’d just made such a decision in accepting the Gardella Legacy.
    But that was different.
    It wasn’t as if any other woman—or man—crowding the ball tonight would have such a choice to make.
    The surprise in his face evaporated. “I can certainly understand that sentiment, Miss Grantworth. I’m not certain your mother, who is, at this moment, watching us with a definitely plotting expression on her face, would agree with you, but I can fully relate.”
    Victoria smiled up at him, a burst of pleasure trilling through her at the joy of being spun gently across the floor by the Marquess of Rockley, no less. Surely Rockley was the handsomest, most charming, and wealthiest unattached man at the ball. And he was looking down at her with quite obvious interest.
    â€œMiss Grantworth, I have a confession to make.”
    â€œOh?” She raised her eyebrows delicately.
    Every time she looked at him, she felt a gentle churning in her stomach—an expectant, pleasant churning.
    â€œWe once met long ago…and I have not been able to forget you.”
    â€œIt does feel as though we’ve met,” she replied. “I have been wondering about that myself…but I must confess I do not recall when or where it was.”
    â€œYour honesty pains me, Miss Grantworth, but I will tell you the story. Perhaps it will stir your memory. Some of my father’s holdings abutted Prewitt Shore, your family estate, I believe. And one summer many years ago—I was perhaps sixteen—I was riding one of the stallions from the stable. One that I was not, of course, supposed to ride,” he added with the hint of a proud smile, “but, of course I was a daredevil and I did. I came barreling across a meadow, not realizing I had strayed onto the lands of our neighbor, and—Ah, but you do remember now, don’t